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Expert opinion

What are flexstyles?
Flexstyles represent the different attitudes and behaviours individuals use to manage boundaries between work and the rest of life (Kossek and Lautsch, 2008). Flexstyles are part of a work-life strategy in use. They are determined by our job and family life structure, and preferences for managing work-life boundaries.

To develop the concept of flexstyles, we interviewed and surveyed over 400 professionals in many different workplaces-from a manufacturing plant to the financial services sector, to people who worked for themselves so they could work at home.

Integrators, separators and volleyers
Our research led us to conclude that there are three basic types of workers: integrators, separators, and volleyers. Integrators tend to blend their work and personal lives-whether physically or psychologically, or both; separators tend to compartmentalize the two; and volleyers tend to fall somewhere in between-blending their work and personal lives one day, then demarcating them the next.

Does it really matter?
Interestingly, we found that a person's work style didn't necessarily determine whether they were at peace with their lives. Some people could talk on the phone about work-related issues while watching their kid's soccer game and have no problem with it. Others found it seriously problematic.

We found that the people who expressed the most satisfaction with their lives were those who felt the most in control. Under each flexstyle types, there were good and bad ways of managing flexibility. Some integrators were fusion lovers, for example, while others who were reactors felt unhappy about blurring boundaries and out of control. Similarly, some separators where happy with separation of boundaries - these were either work or "family firsters", and could control how they managed boundaries to support a primary identity. Other separators were unhappy about feeling forced to separate, felt out of boundary control, and were captives to their separation strategy. They wanted more integration but couldn't get it.

The bottom line: what it means for you
To find the flexstyle that works for you, it starts with believing that you are the master of your own life, and seeing the importance of incorporating a work/life strategy in your career strategy. If you are integrating too much now, ask yourself: "Is it good for our health and well-being to be checking work e-mail right up to bedtime?". Unless we actively manage how we use flexibility, the flexibility that was supposed to help us can actually make our lives worse. We can be working on vacations, on weekends and during time we used to have for leisure.

Overall, flexstyles are a diagnostic tool to help each us figure out how to take steps to manage work- life relationships more closely to our boundary preferences and in ways that give use more control over how we use flexibility. It will also enable us to better link career management to work-life management, solve conflicts at work and home, and help us develop leadership strategies for managing our whole selves on and off the job. Effectively managing work-life relationships is increasingly an important leadership self-management competency. It is also an important part of talent management of self, and for collaborating with and leading with others.

Next steps . . .
I am currently working on a new project with the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro North Carolina to further validate flexstyles to understand how they vary across gender, age, nationality and occupation. If you would like to find out more about how to use the flexstyles scales in your teaching, or company, or for yourself, we will have a free web version ready for you later this Spring that we will share the scales with you if you want to participate to learning more about flexstyles. You will find out your flexstyle and learn tips and tools for managing boundaries. For more information contact  Ellen Ernst Kossek.

Dr. Ellen Ernst Kossek is University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. She is the co-author of 'CEO of Me: Creating a Life that Works in the Flexible Job Age' (2008 Pearson/Wharton School Publishing). Her website is Ellen Kossek.